D.J. Coffman – Sequential Artist, Thinker

I’ve spoken with several comic book creators and webcomic creators in the past few months who think it’s near impossible to host their own webcomics and feel they are “computer illiterate” or don’t know design. Some are afraid that places like DrunkDuck.com might go belly-up overnight and they’ll lose all their comics/data and the audience they’ve built there. I decided to write this step by step guide to show you how easy and affordable it is to leave your “free hosting” behind and take the next step to becoming master of your own domain! Keep in mind, this is just my opinion and advice on what to use to take the next step to getting serious about your online webcomics.

1.  Sign up at Dreamhost- Don’t ask questions, just sign up. I’m on the 9.99 a month plan, and i pay once a year, $119 bucks. This gives you MORE than you’ll need for hosting your comics. I host SEVERAL sites on my one account, including the Yirmumah comics, and a bunch of sites for the Flobots! — 9.99 a month is only about $2.50 a friggin week, anyone should be able to afford that, especially someone serious about publishing comics in any regard. So sign the heck up. — And if that’s not enough if you type in the coupon code DRAMA when you’re signing up, you’ll get 50 bucks off compliments OF ME.

2. Once you’re signed up with Dreamhost, you login to your control panel, and notice a section called GOODIES, and then ONE CLICK INSTALLS: (click image for larger image)

From there you can install a BUNCH of things with one click, including forums, shopping carts, but for this step-by-step, you want to select WORDPRESS blog and guide it through where to host it on your account. IMPORTANT NOTE! – Don’t click the “easy” method of  auto install, it won’t allow you to upload themes to your folder. Do the advanced complete install option and you should be good to go!

3. You’ll need FTP program (basically that means file transfering protocal, you’ll be uploading files to your space on the web from your computer) which will allow you to transfer files by dragging them and dropping them from your desktop onto your webspace. I use SmartFtp, but you can also use free FTP like Filezilla. You will use the password and username that Dreamhost emails to you after signing up for “FTP ACCESS” to your site. ANOTHER GREAT FREE FTP tip, if you’re using the Firefox Internet Browser, there is a free extenstion called FireFTP that once installed turns your browser into a FTP program where you can drag and drop files from. I’m currently using FireFtp for all my transfering needs! Download it here.

4. Go download the free COMICPRESS theme for wordpress it’s a powerful wordpress theme by cartoonist Tyler Martin which is being used by many of the top webcomics around (including PVP) – You’ll unzip the download so its a folder that will say “comicpress”– While you are on that download page, also download the PLUGIN called “Comicpress Manager” and unzip that file as well.

5. Open your FTP program and login to your site. Look for the folder called “wp-content”, open it and inside you will see a folder called “themes” – you want to drag and drop the “comicpress” theme folder into that “themes” folder and let it upload. — Also, go back to the “wp-content” folder and put the Comicpress Manager plugin you downloaded into the “plugins” folder. Here’s a look at what my FTP folder looks like when open. Notice the folders I’m talking about… (click for larger image)

6. Login to to your Wordpress admin page, and go to the DESIGN tab. Switch on the “Comicpress theme” there. Also, go over to th PLUGINS tab and swith on the “comicpress manager” plugin as well.

7. Using the Comicpress manager, which will say COMICPRESS in your main Wordpress menu (see above image)  if you have the plugin turned on, you can now upload comic pages or strips right from your desktop. It’s a BREEZE. All you do is name them by date like “2009-09-12-title-of-comic.jpg”, you can even upload them in Zipped file batches all at once too. Here’s what a general screenshot of that Comicpress tab opened looks like…

There are detailed tutorials and tweeks for Comicpress and how to enhance your site’s look and feel over on the Comicpress forum.

8. Kick the tires of everything and look around in your Dreamhost account, and in your installed Wordpress dashboard. There are several awesome plugins out there for wordpress that you simply drag and drop into the plugins folder, and turn on. And you can edit the entire website through the Design panel in wordpress without much fuss.

This is by no means a thorough tutorial on running a webcomic or totally tweeking out your themes in wordpress, and you don’t have to use dreamhost if you can install wordpress on your other hosting you might already have. I mention them because that’s what I use, and they have that nifty one-click install stuff which is great for people just starting out who want to get away from freehosting. Wordpress is just a very powerful tool for getting the word out there too, with tagging and keywords that are going to instantly beam your comics and topics out into the blogosphere and send good search engine traffic your way.

Here are some of the sites I’m running right now on Dreamhost or with Wordpress engines:

• yirmumah.com
• americawillbe.org
• flobots.org
• flobots.net
• djcoffman.com (this very blog!)

And there are many more too. Another sample I’d point to is the quick ACTIONWEBCOMICS.COM website that Jason Embury and myself put up in ONE DAY, as a submission for DC Comic’s editors. Jason is hosting that I do believe on Dreamhost and that’s a very simple Wordpress with Comicpress template there that we only added the header graphic to and changed background colors in the CSS stylesheet.

Hope that helps put some of my friends on the right path. Don’t feel intimidated by the software or technical sounding terms (like CSS STYLSHEET) if you can point and click and type, you can do all this. I often tell friends, it’s sort of like trial and error or flying the Millenium Falcon. Sometimes the hyperdrive goes bad, you just have to get in and tweek it around or hit with a wrench and you’re good to go. Take it slowly and learn just a little bit each day, it’s totally worth it!

38 comments

I think I’ve decided to go “radio silent” for a spell and rebuild myself stronger. Of course if you work with me, I’ll still be available via email and phone and all of that. I just find myself longing for a bit of privacy and less transparency in my own life.

Funny how that is. For years I built and built, using every tool imaginable to push and push. Worked hard to be connected and ON line. But now I have an appetite to be OFF line. Maybe I’m a little overwhelmed by all the Facebooking and Twittering and social media madness. I can’t really tweet anything without it being picked apart by strangers who follow me as “friends” … and that’s another thing… nowadays, more than ever, you don’t know who your “friends” are. It’s not just a LIST. And I’ve found that I only have a FEW authentic, honest to goodness, old fashioned FRIENDS.

There may be no harder thing for a man to do than to watch dreams die or fade away. Let alone admit that. I kind of feel like that about my career in the comics. I’ve made good money at times, had a lot of fun, but peeked behind the curtain maybe a bit too long and found myself burned and jaded again. I still love to draw comics, of course, but I’m feeling tired and a bit underwhelmed. I look around and I don’t see anyone changing anything. An industry dying out, barely breathing, and Hollywood vampires living off the lifeblood of what’s left. Ironically, feels like that’s the only thing keeping it alive.

I can’t afford therapy, so there will be a lot of drawing and writing and self reflection. I guess if I had to envision how I’d like to come back to public life, I’d say I’ll return a little thinner and fitter, and a better artist and human being.

Looking forward to my next chapter…

2 comments